The Patrick County Board of Supervisors heard a broadband update at its January 22 meeting from County Administrator Beth Simms.
Noting that there are two state-funded broadband projects occurring in the county, Simms said the first is the Patrick County Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) 2022 with Charter-Spectrum. This project is primarily located in the furthest south-west corner of the county.
“They did finally get their VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) permits. That was the holdup on that,” Simms said, adding she expects construction of that project to begin “really any day.”
Simms said she will have a more concrete update on the timeline during the first week of February, “but they were delayed with some permitting processes,” she said. “I think that’s one thing to note. Even though this is a state initiative, and this is grant funded and all this stuff, they still have to go through the construction process just like anybody else.”
Because projects are going on throughout the state, the permitting process is slower rather than faster, Simms said.
The second project is the West Piedmont VATI 2022 project, which is a regional project that includes Patrick, Franklin, and Henry counties.
“RiverStreet (Networks) is the internet service provider, but Appalachian Power is also part of that. As you all know, Appalachian Power is a pretty big company,” Simms said, and added there are a “lot of things to get through with them.”
Construction is scheduled to start on that project February 16 in Franklin County, with construction in Henry and Patrick County scheduled to begin 30 days later, or around mid-March.
Simms said she, other county staff members, and the West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC) – which is over the broadband initiative – meet monthly with the companies working on the projects.
“Construction should be picking up, and be continuous here in the next couple of months, so I’ll plan to give one of these updates every meeting,” she said.
In other matters, the board:
*Received Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) training and Conflict of Interest Act (COIA) training.
*Heard an update on the Parks and Recreation Department from Director Travis Murphy.
*Heard the administrator’s report.
*Heard the supervisors’ reports.
*Heard from Kurt Bozenmayer about potential FOIA training for those appointed to boards.
*Reappointed David Haymore to the ANCHOR Commission Board for an at-large term.
